Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s government is heading towards another disaster on the legal front as Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq has disagreed with a summary sent by the prime minister to form a reconciliation commission, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.
The formation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”, on the pattern of South Africa, has been a long-time commitment of the Pakistan People’s Party and it had been agreed upon by its slain chairwoman Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif in the Charter of Democracy (CoD). A source told Pakistan Today that Prime Minister Gilani had sent the reference to the Law Ministry, ordering it to work out a proposal for the reconciliation commission, which was later forwarded by the Law Ministry to the AGP.
“However, to the shock of the law minister, the AGP returned the reference with remarks that there was no need for such a commission. Maulvi Anwar wrote further on the file that the history of the world was testament to the fact that such commissions were formed in specific circumstances, which were not relevant to Pakistan,” said the source. According to clause 13(a) of the CoD, the commission was to be established to acknowledge victims of torture, imprisonment, state-sponsored persecution, targeted legislation and politically motivated accountability. The commission was also supposed to examine and report its findings on military coups and civil removals of governments from 1996 onwards, according to the CoD.
